I know I should try to keep my expectations realistic but I can't help thinking about all of the potential new features and how they would work. With castles, I'll settle for not having to kill Base Captain after Base Captain. Also at least some siege equipment is better than beating a guard on the outside of the fort and somehow his death opening up the gates.

Although the smaller bases and missions might still work based around these features so perhaps I shouldn't get too excited.

While I'll certainly miss Kingdom mode which I really enjoyed (and I am concerned at idea all characters will have story given how it became a major problem by DW5), I am encouraged that koei is trying a major reform. If it doesn't work, at least they tried to shake things up and if it does, yay. Granted open world isn't always my thing, I'm more a compact story man

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”

Welcome Lost! I'm glad to hear about someone else excited about the games and I've enjoyed reading your thoughts!

I'm imagining the side missions will work similarly to in Warriors Orochi 3. If you complete certain side missions before main battles then you get reinforcements at key times in the battle, or an important officer is able to be there who wouldn't be otherwise, or they arrive with siege equipment etc. You can still win without the side missions but it'll be much harder!

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ― Nelson Mandela

As the game is open world I imagine that some side content will be there just to be done with no actual impact. You will find small bandit camps, caravans that are under attack, etc. Things to fill in the map, most to simply give points or achievements.

Some will probably give some kind of bonus to other missions but many roll be stand alone. Remember while open world games have come a long way this is Omega Forces first one u believe so I expect it to fall for having more things to do rather then having more meaningful things.

"If you can't drink a lobbyist's whiskey, take his money, sleep with his women and still vote against him in the morning, you don't belong in politics."

I also play less open world games in general but I am excited to freely explore "all" of China. One thing I am confident about already is that the setting will be absolutely beautiful and hopefully it will worth traveling around the entire country. Now we just have to hope they use the space wisely.

I imagine the side missions will get a bit repetitive which is why I at least hope they put some effort into the characters and story involved. Even if the routine of escorting the caravan is pretty much the same each time, I can live with it if I feel like it's a natural part of the world in some way. Also it's basically a tradition at this point to grind missions until your character (or all of them ) are max level.

Also I agree Sun Fin, I believe DW4 also hard a slightly similar system. I actually really like the concept but I hope that each era has more than one critical battle basically because it would give us more content. For example, with Guandu there could be the actual battle and defeat of Yuan Shao as one mission and then the conquest of his sons as the next.

This is by far the longest running series of games I've ever consistently played and I don't intend to stop now so they can afford a few mistakes as long as the core gameplay and story is still interesting/fun.

Here's some food for thought, how would everyone feel if strategies from Empires were brought into the main game? I think they were one of the few features that kept me playing Empires and wouldn't mind if some of them made it into the main game. Especially the "construction" and "large-scale" stratagems. I'm less fussed about the healing or fire/ice/darkness attack stuff.

Lost wrote:Here's some food for thought, how would everyone feel if strategies from Empires were brought into the main game? I think they were one of the few features that kept me playing Empires and wouldn't mind if some of them made it into the main game. Especially the "construction" and "large-scale" stratagems. I'm less fussed about the healing or fire/ice/darkness attack stuff.

Same. Empires strategies + Open World= Aw yiss.

I wonder if they'll borrow some gameplay elements from games like Breath of the Wild or something. That'd be sweet... at least in theory.

Man Chong: Bit disappointing. As an image it doesn't come together though the blue and gold detail is nice, the all rond outfit and his face leaves little impression. 5/10

Zhou Cang: Looks nice enough, it is the neckerchief and the Ma Dai hat that gives him a bit of flair, looks a very confident figure. 6

SSX: Not a huge fan of that shade of red but I like the dress, the golden detail looks lovely particularly on the glove and a little decoration in her hair. 7.5

Lu Xun: I like their adaptation of his outfit, replacing white with brown works surprisingly well, nice purple bow and gold on the arm. I see what they tried wit the hat but not a fan. 7.5

Lu Bu: Quite imposing. I feel the gold armour (with plenty of detail) adds something, a sense of power, to his look, he feels an imposing figure. 8

“You, are a rebellious son who abandoned his father. You are a cruel brigand who murdered his lord. How can Heaven and Earth put up with you for long? And unless you die soon, how can you face the sight of men?”